Miscellany from the Week - Saturday, 23 April

“Paris is loath to surrender itself to people who are in a hurry; it belongs to the dreamers, to those capable of amusing themselves in its streets without regard to time when urgent business requires their presence elsewhere … waste time … experience the faint distress that comes from thinking you have lost your way."  Julien Green, Paris

There are giants among us!  This façade on rue du Louvre was pretty arresting!

For lunch one day, chicken paillard (chicken breasts pounded flat and quickly grilled to be slightly charred and crispy on the outside while still juicy inside) served with a big lemon wedge, arugula, and a tasty uncooked tomato-shallot-herb-vinegar salsa, fries, and a beer at Café Étienne Marcel.  Very tasty, and there must have been five paillards here - could have easily fed a family with them!

I’m usually a beer or wine person for the afternoon “break” but one day I thought I’d try one of Le Compas’ signature cocktails - the “I Love Paris” - strawberry juice, Champagne and the elderflower liqueur St-Germain.  Tasty, but hoo boy, it went to my head right away!  Good thing I was just about 20 yards from my front door!  That brown bottle on the table is hand sanitizer - you’ll see them on the tables of many cafés and restos.

Many Paris streets, gardens, and squares are named after artists, writers, musicians, royalty, religious - a few are named after business persons or politicians, but happily, not many!  Just for you music fans, here’s a tiny (and overgrown) small square in the 6th named after Francis Poulenc.

Loved the metal “lace” fences outside the Haute École de Joaillerie (jewelry-making school) on rue du Louvre

It’s a bit hard to see, but this bicycle courier was delivering an Amazon box to the building across the rue Marie Stuart from my door.  I have always seen lots of deliveries via bicycle, but the volume seems to be increasing.  Also, with more and more streets being carved up to add a bicycle lane and remove some vehicle lanes, more and more commuters are on rental bicycles.  The bicyclists and pedestrians have the right-of-way, so if you hit one, the driver is liable.  There are still a lot of accidents, though.  But my drivers were all very cautious, so no accidents this trip! 

I should have thought to explore the other direction on rue Tiquetonne earlier. Perfect fish & chips, not strictly French of course, but SO yummy! 

And, my latest heartthrob….

It started pouring with rain one afternoon, so I *had to* seek shelter under the awning of a sidewalk café!

There's this cool little shop of "stuff" in the Passage du Grand Cerf at the end of my block, and I always try to stop by when I'm in town to find something odd & interesting to bring home.  This time I really wished I could pop this, um, stationary bicycle exercise stool (?) or one of these cool cabinets in my suitcase!   For more of their stuff, check out their website:   https://www.rickshaw.fr/en